European leaders are finding it hard to understand the UK's position on Brexit due to mixed messages from the country, Ireland's prime minister has said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the ambiguity meant the other 27 nations in the EU are struggling to grasp what the UK wants from negotiations.

"It's still not clear what the UK actually wants in terms of a new relationship, because on the one hand it seems that the UK wants to have a close trading relationship with Europe like it has now, but it also seems to want something different, and it is very hard for us as European prime ministers to understand exactly what the UK wants the new relationship to look like," he said.

In an interview with the BBC's Spotlight programme, he said: "It certainly can't be, and I think anyone will understand it can't be, having all the benefits of EU membership but none of the responsibilities and none of the costs. If you join a club, you obey the rules and you pay the membership fee."